Unsecured creditors of Jan Cameron’s Retail Adventures have called for an independent investigation into its collapse, alleging the discount variety chain may have traded while insolvent.

Litigation funder IMF (Australia) has been approached by some of Retail Adventures’ largest unsecured creditors and is proposing to fund and undertake an investigation and legal action to recover some of the $165 million they are owed.

Retail Adventures, which trades as Crazy Clarke’s and Sam’s Warehouse and competes with The Reject Shop, was placed into voluntary administration last October.

In February, Ms Cameron, the largest secured creditor and sole shareholder, reached agreement with administrators Deloitte to buy back the business for $58.9 million.

However, unsecured creditors have questioned whether the company was insolvent long before it went into administration and have raised doubts about the status of Ms Cameron’s security over loans of almost $80 million to the company before its collapse.

They have pointed to a decision in the NSW Supreme Court in January, when Justice Robert McDougall found that Retail Adventures Pty Ltd was “hopelessly insolvent" when administrators were appointed.

Deloitte has started its own investigations. However, IMF investment manager Paul Rainford said some unsecured creditors did not have faith in those investigations and had asked IMF to become involved.

“We need to have an independent special purpose administrator to investigate issues such as insolvency," he said. IMF needed support from un­secured creditors owed at least $40 million to proceed with an investigation and legal action, he said.